Microsoft Acquires Bethesda

Taegukgi on 21/09/2020 - 23:09
Last edited 21/09/2020 - 23:51

Microsoft apparently paid $7.5 billion for Bethesda. Also, Bethesda's future games will be on Game Pass on launch day.

Source -

Today is a special day, as we welcome some of the most accomplished studios in the games industry to Xbox. We are thrilled to announce Microsoft has entered into an agreement to acquire ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks.

As one of the largest, most critically acclaimed, privately held game developers and publishers in the world, Bethesda is an incredibly talented group of 2,300 people worldwide who make up some of the most accomplished creative studios in our industry across Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios. These are the teams responsible for franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Dishonored, Prey, Quake, Starfield and many more.

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Comments

  • jimbobaus on 21/09/2020 - 23:11
    +5

    beat me by this much

    This is huge news!

    • Muzeeb on 21/09/2020 - 23:17
      +4

      If only you spent less time on your more accurate title and description.

      LPT: add the bare minimum to create the post then edit in the specifics afterwards.

      • jimbobaus on 21/09/2020 - 23:18
        +1

        yeah i was .. i kept thinking the 10 words issue was my title LMAO

  • enwar on 21/09/2020 - 23:20

    Nail, meet coffin.

    • AustriaBargain on 21/09/2020 - 23:29
      +4

      Maybe they will finally have the budget to pay for more than five voice actors and writers.

      • apsilon on 22/09/2020 - 06:23

        Pay? I assumed they were family/friends.

        • AustriaBargain on 22/09/2020 - 06:31

          What I don't understand is why different shopkeepers with each of the five different voices, why do they read all the exact same voice lines. Each time you walk into a shop it's like they are all auditioning for the part of the one shopkeeper. Was there some kind of shoestring budget for the best selling game of the decade or what. Microsoft can at least justify whatever budget they want, like they have for the Halo games, the only limits have been the producers imagination and technical ability.

          Also in Skyrim why do town gates just magically swing open. There's no chains or ropes pulling the, there's no wooden wheel at the bottom of the gate guiding it. They just magically swing open like the doors in old DOS games did. What are they doing with all that money if they aren't bothering to animate doors or write variations of common voice lines.

  • jimbobaus on 21/09/2020 - 23:21
    +3

    Next Elder Scrolls Game Xbox and PC Exclusives for sure

  • AustriaBargain on 21/09/2020 - 23:28

    Huh. I guess a lot of the major multi platform games just went exclusive.

  • AustriaBargain on 21/09/2020 - 23:38
    +1

    This means Bethesda and Obsidian are now owned by Microsoft. There's no need for Obsidian to make spiritual successors to Fallout, they can start working on games like Fallout New Vegas 2 again.

  • jimbobaus on 21/09/2020 - 23:50
    +1

    Further to my last comment
    I suspect the games they produce will be timed exclusives
    these games will 100% come to other platforms, Microsoft knows the value in selling as many copies of games as possible

    Minecraft
    Hellblade 2
    both MS Owned and Not exclusive.

    They will probably add the entire library to Games Pass which will be a massive win for that service, but i suspect you will see Elder Scrolls 6, Next Doom , Next Fallout etc on PlayStation and maybe even Nintendo (what ever the console is at that time)

    Spencer has said the studios will remain fully independent but under the Xbox Banner, i think "console exclusive content" is also a given (similar to Sony did with the new Avengers game)

    Quote from Todd Howard (Bethesda)
    We share a deep belief in the fundamental power of games, in their ability to connect, empower, and bring joy. And a belief we should bring that to everyone - regardless of who you are, where you live, or what you play on

    • AustriaBargain on 22/09/2020 - 00:14
      +1

      I think they've already confirmed all the games will be on Gamepass. That $100 for three years of gamepass is looking pretty good. I'd have bought half of these games day one anyway.

      • jimbobaus on 22/09/2020 - 01:14

        Yes they have
        They have also confirmed just now that they will be continuing to publish games on multiple platforms.

        • AustriaBargain on 22/09/2020 - 02:09

          I've got a feeling whatever they have planned will make Sony's spiderman avengers exclusive look like Pearl Harbor compared to WWII. Imagine if the next Elder Scrolls game had an exclusive city or race to Xbox/PC.

  • manbearpig on 22/09/2020 - 00:48
    +4

    This is a massive acquisition. I guess the narrative that Xbox has no games can finally die.

    You can't win though with fanboys. If future games are locked to Xbox, the fanboys will complain that Microsoft are not consumer-friendly, when Sony have been doing the same thing for years (Destiny, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, etc.).

    Even if Microsoft do the consumer friendly thing and release the games on PS5, the fanboys will still continue the 'Why get an Xbox when I can still get their exclusives on my PS5 lolol'. So rather than being grateful that Microsoft decides to share their games (if they decide to like Minecraft), they will continue to call Microsoft stupid for sharing their exclusives with them and happily play the games.

    So either way, you can't win. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm an Xbox and PS gamer, but I just can't stand the hypocrisy. It'll be good to see Xbox get some love instead of the constant bashing.

    • jimbobaus on 22/09/2020 - 01:15

      Zenimax just confirmed that they will continue to be a multi platform publisher and that this was part of the deal.
      All games going forward will be on Games Pass at Launch.

      7.5 Billion USD was the amount paid by MS

      • apsilon on 22/09/2020 - 06:28
        +1

        How many times have we seen claims during an acquisition along the lines of "don't worry, we'll continue to…" and a few months later that "promise" goes out the window. I don't think that'll happen in this case, but just because they say it won't doesn't actually mean anything. Personally I can't decide if this is a good or bad thing.

      • ddn2004 on 22/09/2020 - 08:30
        +1

        Technically, XBOX and PC (and maybe Switch) are multiple platforms right?

        • apsilon on 22/09/2020 - 16:18

          Yep, my concern would be they drop PC altogether and just have XBox and PS. Even if they keep PC what does it mean for modding? Will we lose the ability to mod or will it be restricted to things only the consoles can do? I'm not a big gamer these days but I've played TES since the very first so wouldn't be disappointed to lose that (as I'd never buy a console for the amount of gaming I do).

          • ddn2004 on 23/09/2020 - 11:54

            @apsilon: I wouldn't be worried about not being on PC. Looks like they're trying to get people to subscribe to gamepass though, and probably xbox account signin.

    • AustriaBargain on 22/09/2020 - 02:10
      +2

      We waited a long time for this though. I thought when MS bought Rare that finally we'd start seeing some good games, a regular supply of good games. But now the only good game Rare has published in 15 years is Sea of Thieves. 200 million dollars for one good game.

      • BugsBunnyAUS on 22/09/2020 - 06:51

        It's one thing to buy a big studio and have them under your umbrella, but you have to manage, nurture and invest in them to create the content they want and believe in. Microsoft have historically paid big for acquisitions outside of gaming and watched these investments fall by the way side quite badly. Now, this is a different Microsoft to that of years past but I still think it's a reasonable concern to hold.

      • sss333 on 22/09/2020 - 11:30

        But now the only good game Rare has published in 15 years is Sea of Thieves.

        I wouldn't call Sea of Thieves good, the Viva Piñata games on the other hand I would.

        • manbearpig on 22/09/2020 - 13:26
          +1

          Your opinion, but I love Sea of Thieves as do many. It's community is thriving. I'm still patiently awaiting for a new Banjo though.

  • brokenglish on 22/09/2020 - 11:25

    Goodbye Stadia :(

  • narcoleptic-haze on 22/09/2020 - 15:19

    Whatever happens regarding exclusivity (I'm not necessarily for that), this now means all these games are now coming to Game Pass. And in the case of new presumably massive games like Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6, they'll be coming day 1. That's amazing.

  • mwblink86 on 22/09/2020 - 16:54

    I don’t have good enough internet for game pass , would take me a week to Download one game

  • bert-lifts on 22/09/2020 - 17:39
    +1

    MS really trying to be the netflix of gaming with game pass. Lets see how it pans out over the next few years.

    I don't think they would make anything bethesda completely exclusive though. Maybe timed exclusive to game pass. They still want that full RRP for games from ps5 owners.

  • DASHCAM NOW DUDE on 22/09/2020 - 20:35
    +1

    With Apple pushing their own mobile silicon power into their laptops/desktops and rejecting Game Pass and Microsoft pushing the cloud gaming, I see a future which is Apple VS Microsoft, Sony becomes solely a publisher and the only console left is Nintendo with Game Pass implementation.

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